Pressure responsive sealing devices



S p 1955 K. F. JUENGLING 2,718,971

PRESSURE RESPONSIVE SEALING DEVICES Filed March 24, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet l IN VENT QR.

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Sept. 27, 1955 K. F. JUENGLING 2,718,971

PRESSURE RESPONSIVE SEALING DEVICES Filed March24, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q N V N o 0 0 0 0 o {g 7 k 1 fiQrZFJzZ Z 1% Q BY 59 p 1955 K. F. JUEVNGLING 2,718,971

PRESSURE RESPONSIVE SEALING DEVICES Filed March 24, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTQR. R garlflfwggiagg, k3 3y f United States Patent 0 PRESSURE RESPONSIVE SEALING DEVICES Karl F. Juengling, Lakewood, Ohio, assignor to Senior, Juengling and Knall, Birmingham, Ala., a partnership Application March 24, 1952, Serial No. 278,203

3 Claims. (Cl. 214--37) This invention relates primarily to sealing devices for effecting renewable pressure responsive seals. between large parts, especially those which effect axial or revoluble motion with respect to each other.

It is concerned with a seal of this type in which a positive sealing is obtained by means of a packing which is subjected to more or less compression, depending on the variations of pressure to be contained, which packing is easily available for service. and replacement without prolonged interruption in service of the device to which it is applied.

In particular, the invention finds applicability to sealing of the parts of wind-tunnels, caissons, cofferdams, etc, and to the distributors of blast furnaces in connection with which the invention will be described. ln'addition to the improved sealing, the device herein disclosed relates to certain other improvements in the construction of distributors for blast furnaces, lending basis for the adoption of this particular construction in describing the improved pressure responsive seal hereinafter set forth.

As is known, charges. are delivered into blast furnace tops by ship hoists, by which burdens of iron ore, limestone. and coke are introduced to a hopper at the top of the furnace. These hoppers are made to revolve and are emptied into the furnace through a bell-valve, so that the contents are uniformly distributed around the interior of thestack.

Since the hoppers must be revolubly mounted to accom plish this purpose, and since blast furnaces are operated under pressures higher than atmospheric, it is essential that a seal be provided between the revoluble hopper and the stationary parts of the stack, which will contain the internal pressures of the latter, irrespective of the extent to which they vary.

The seal of the present invention is well suited for this purpose, embodying as it does novel arrangements for mounting the packing, so that the latter is compressed in accordance with the pressure variations within the stack; and further providing for the easy replacement of the packing when this is necessary, without necessitating substantial interruption in operations of the latter. This is important, since the expense of shutting down and later resuming the operations of a blast furnace is considerable.

The present invention has certain instrumentalities associated with it which constitute improvements for mounting revoluble hoppers of the type described, these being principally concerned with the consolidation of the axial and radial roller bearing mounts required to support such a hopper so as to minimize the number of roller mounts required in any installation.

Although the invention is herein described in connection with such blast furnace distributor, it will be seen that the particular construction of parts is adapted to many other uses, as have been briefly alluded to above.

Referring now to the drawings:v

Figure l is a fragmentary midsectional elevational Cir view of a conventional blast furnace top construction embodying the distributor of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged mid-sectional elevation of the distributor embodying the present invention;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the device shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4- is a fragmentary side elevational view, shown partly in section, of the drive mechanism by which the distributor is revolved;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevational view of one of the hydraulic units by which the packing gland is forced into engagement with the distributor to seal the top of the furnace, and Figure 5A is a modification thereof;

Figure 6 is a reduced top plan sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Figure 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown in Figure 1 a conventional blast furnace top comprising conical top closures Ill and 12, between which the internal large hopper 14 having the usual bell-valve 16 isdisposed for operation by the central rockshaft 18.

The distributor is arranged coaxially with the lower hopper 14 and comprises an open-ended barrel-shaped cylinder 20, which is mounted at the top of the smaller cone ring 12 in concentric relation to the lower hopper 14. This cylinder, which comprises the distributor proper, is closed at its lower end by a bell-valve 22, which is actuated by a rockshaft 24 that is in the form of a concentric tube surrounding the shaft 18. The cylinder 20 is fed through its open upper end by the usual skip hopper 26, into which the skip car 28 is adapted to discharge its contents from the top of the skip bridge 30.

The bell actuating shafts i8 and 24 are connected at their upper ends with the bell beams 32, which in turn are controlled in the conventional manner selectively to open and close the bell-valves l6 and 22 at different times during the operation of charging the stack.

Reference will now be made to Figures 2 to 6 inclusive in explaining the details of the improved construction of the distributor. The open-ended cylinder 20 is provided with a pair of annular flanges 34 and 36, which extend completely around the cylinder near its mid-portion. Wedge-shaped roller races 38 and 40 are bolted, or otherwise secured, to the flanges 34 and 36, respectively, as best appears in Figure 4.

Mounted upon platforms 42, which are disposed at IZO-degree intervals around the top of the blast furnace so as to be rigidly secured thereto, are a plurality of roller assemblies 44, which comprise conical rollers 46 and cylindrical rollers 47, both of which have anti-friction bearings. The conical rollers have their bearing assemblies 43 carried in tapered raceways so as to afford axial, as well as some radial, support for the distributor cylinder 20. Principal radial support derives from the cylindrical rollers 47, as will be described.

The rollers 46 are engaged with either the upper or lower raceways 38 and 40 by means of bearings 50, in which the journal blocks 52, which mount the tapered race bearings 48 at their inner extremities, are disposed for axial adjustment by means of shims 53 that are insertable and removable between the outer ends of the journal blocks 52 and the bearing closure plate 55, which is secured axially of the bearing by four bolts 57. Wear is compensated in this manner. The rollers 47 are journaled on vertical axes upon slide bearings 49. The slide bearings are adjusted and secured radially of the distributor by set-screws 54. The set-screws are adjustable relatively to lugs 56 and maintained in position by lock-nuts 58. By loosening the lock-nuts, the set-screws 54 may be moved to and fro in their mounting in the lug 56 to move the rollers 47 to and fro in a radial direction with respect to the distributor which they engage upon a race 51 formed in the periphery of the upper annular flange 34. The distributor thus may be adjusted radially by adjusting the setting of the three rollers 47 to maintain concentricity between the several parts. By consolidating the mounts of the rollers 47 with those of the rollers 46, a simplified construction is derived.

The top of the stack is closed by the bell-valve 22, which forms a double gate with the bell-valve 16 of the large hopper and the pressures within the latter are confined by the bell-valve 22 on the one hand and around the periphery of the cylinder 20 by means of fluid pressure actuated bearings 60 on the other. These move in response to pressures which may be related to the internal pressures in the top of the stack, to compress a packing gland 62 against the under surface of the annular flanges 36 provided for the accommodation of the lower raceways of the supporting rollers 46.

An annular channel 64, U-shaped in cross-section, is disposed around the periphery of the lesser top cone ring 12 in integral relation therewith, so as to be impervious to gases. An annular packing gland 62 is disposed within the U-shaped channel so as to extend completely around the cylinder 20 and bear against an annular bearing 66, which is at the bottom of the flange 36 previously mentioned. The packing may contain oil, aquadag, or other liquid which acts to augment the seal and provide antifriction means between the relatively movable surfaces.

As shown in the large detail of Figure 5, the packing gland 62 is supported upon an annular ring 68 within the annular U-shaped channel member. The annular ring 68 is in turn supported at intervals around the channel by pistons 69 which are actuated by Sylphon bellows 70, or by other suitable pressure responsive means, which expand and contract under variations in pressure. Pipe lines 72 connect the Sylphon bellows with a hydraulic pressure source, which preferably, though not necessarily, is made responsive to the pressure resident in the top of the stack.

From this arrangement, it will be clear that as the pressures in the stack increase, so do the pressures imposed within the Sylphon bellows, causing the bellows to expand and inducing the annulus 68 to rise uniformly around the cylinder 20 to place the packing 62 under proportional compression between the annulus and the bottom of the flange 36 against the bearing 66. A tight seal is thus effected when the stack pressures are such as to require it, and are proportionately lower as the stack pressures fall off.

It will also be seen that the tendency of such hydraulic pressure sealing means is to lift the cylinder 20 and consequently relieve the gravital pressures between the rollers 36 and the upper races 38 and impose counterpressures be tween the rollers and the lower races 40. Depending on the response to the pressures in the stack, the radial thrust upon the rollers 46 will either be upward or downward at any given time.

In the interests of maintenance and repair, it is preferable to have the annulus 64 constructed segmentally as appears in Figure 6. In that figure the Sylphon bellows 70 are disposed at approximately 8-inch centers around the distributor and beneath the bottom flange of the annular channel 64. The supporting annulus 68 within the channel is preferably made up of plate segments 71 which are supported in balanced relation by each pair of the pistons 69 which extend through the bottom of the channel from the Sylphon bellows 70. The outer wall of the annular channel 64 is also comprised of segments 73, as appears in Figures and 6. These channels are bolted to the bottom plate by fastenings 75, and are removable to aflord access to the packing 62, which may be prefabricated into unitary pads of predetermined transverse area and longitudinal extent. During the replacement of such pads, the weight of the cylinder 20 is borne by the rollers 46 and the side plates 73 are taken off and the packing 62 removed and replaced without substantial loss of the pressure existent within the stack.

Figure 5A indicates a modified type of seal which employs chevron style packing rings 77, instead of the Sylphon bellows 70 previously described. In this construction the relationship of parts is identical with that previously described, so that the same reference numerals have been adopted. The chevron style packing is of flexible material and presents a concave surface toward the pressure source 72 which enters through the bottom of the channel member 64 which is formed somewhat deeper in order to accommodate the additional packing rings 77. The supporting annulus is bottomed upon the chevron packing 77 and is lifted by the latter to compress the packing 62 in the manner previously described.

The cylinder 20 is caused to revolve by means of a ring gear 74, which is conveniently located around its upper periphery, in registration with a pinion 76, which is driven through a reduction unit 78 by a motor 80, all as is best shown in Figure 4. The extent of rotation of the cylinder may be controlled by a cam limit switch 82, which is connected through a bevel gear train 84 with the drive pinion 76. The entire drive assembly may be conveniently located upon a platform 86, which is secured in any convenient manner to the related structure of the furnace top.

In operation, the skip cars charge successive burdens of ore, coke, and limestone into the hopper 26, which discharges into the distributor 20. The latter is turned sulficiently between charges to cause the burden to be distributed fairly uniformly around the interior, so that when the bell-valve 22 is open, a uniform mixture is delivered to the large hopper 14, during which interval the major bell-valve 16 is kept closed. Then as the lower hopper becomes charged with the uniformly distributed burden, the upper valve 22 is closed and the lower valve is opened to deliver its contents to the stack.

I claim:

1. A burden distributor for blast furnaces and the like comprising a main hopper having an open top; a rotatable cylinder projecting into said open top; a bell-valve closing the bottom of said cylinder interiorly of said main hopper; tapered bearing raceways girding said cylinder; a plurality of tapered rollers engaged in said raceways mounted on the adjacent furnace superstructure in symmetrical spaced relation around said cylinder, said rollers being mounted with their axes along radii of said cylinder and being axially adjustable With respect thereto; a pressure responsive seal comprising an annular flange projecting from and girding said rotatable cylinder, a sliding bearing on the lower face of said annular flange, a confining channel below said sliding bearing comprised of removable segments, removable packing material contained in said channel and pressed against said sliding bearing, an annular ring supporting said packing in said channel, a plurality of pistons supporting said annular ring, the axes of said pistons being parallel to the axis of said cylinder, and pressure responsive means including Sylphon bellows for moving said annular ring toward and away from said sliding bearing; a ring gear circumjacent said cylinder and afiixed thereto; a drive-pinion mounted upon adjacent superstructure meshed with said gear to turn the same; and means to drive said pinion.

2. A burden distributor for blast furnaces and the like comprising a main hopper having an open top; a rotatable cylinder projecting into said open top; a bell-valve closing the bottom of said cylinder interiorly of said main hopper; tapered bearing raceways girding said cylinder; a plurality of tapered rollers engaged in said raceways mounted on the adjacent furnace superstructure in symmetrical spaced relation around said cylinder, said rollers being mounted with their axes along radii of said cylinder and being axially adjustable with respect thereto; a pressure responsive seal comprising an annular flange projecting from and girding said rotatable cylinder, a sliding bearing on the lower face of said annular flange, a confining channel below said sliding bearing comprised of removable segments, removable packing material contained in said channel and pressed against said sliding bearing, an annular ring supporting said packing in said channel, a plurality of supporting means for said annular ring, and pressure responsive means for moving said annular ring toward and away from said sliding bearing; a ring gear circumjacent said cylinder and affixed thereto; a drivepinion mounted upon adjacent superstructure meshed with said gear to turn the same; and means to drive said pinion.

3. A pressure responsive seal for a device having a main hopper having an open top and a rotatable cylinder projecting into said open top comprising: an annular flange projecting from and girding said rotatable cylinder, said annular flange spaced from the lower end of said cylinder which projects into said hopper, a sliding bearing on the lower face of said annular flange, a confining channel below said sliding bearing comprised of removable segments, said confining channel having an open top opposed to said sliding bearing, removable packing material contained in said channel and pressed against said sliding bearing, an annular ring supporting said packing in said channel, a plurality of supporting means for said annular ring, and pressure responsive means for moving said annular ring toward and away from said sliding bearing thereby to vary the degree of compression to which said packing is subjected.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

